Chapter 189

Ethan

A weight sits on my chest.

It feels like a thousand fucking pounds.

Groaning, I force my eyes open and blink through the haze that blurs my vision. White walls surround me and as my senses come back to me, the harsh scent of cleaning solutions assault me.

The hospital.

I’m in the hospital.

The pain in my side throbs, but so does the rest of my body. It starts in my ribs and spreads through me, pulsing like a living thing.

Muffled voices speak from somewhere in the room, talking about mixtures and toxins. They’re women, I realize, but that’s not what’s wrong.

There’s something, someone… I shake my head. Someone important is… is there someone important around?

I turn my head, blinking against the heavy weight and find three women to my right. One is sitting while the other two move around her, passing her things.

No. Not them.

The weight grows heavier when I try to push myself up, but I fight against it. Revolt against it. I have to get up. Someone needs me. Something… something is happening, and I need to stop it.

My chest tightens, and fear, heavier and hotter than ever, roars to life inside me, almost sending me falling back to the bed.

“Alpha!” One of the women cries, but I ignore her. She’s not important. She’s not the one.

“You shouldn’t get up,” another woman says. She tries to get me back to the bed, but I push past her, listening to the pull. I let it guide me to the door as a familiar, animalistic whine finally breaks through the haze.

It sounds, no, feels familiar.

“I have,” I huff. “To go.”

The voice calls me to keep moving, to go to the forest. I can’t stop. I can’t stay, so I push myself. Through the pain, through the weakness, through the heavy weight on my shoulders; I force my way forward until my bare feet touch the grass.

“Mate. Danger.”

The voice finally sounds clear, and all my senses sharpen as a heavy force of fear slams into me.

Fiona

A strong, hot hand circles the back of my neck and jerks me back to my senses. It drags me through the water until I’m breaking the surface and gasping for air. I let my savior drag me onto the cave floor and to safety.

Rocks dig into my back as my throat constricts, and I turn over, coughing until all the water that chokes me is vomited onto the floor. Even then, I heave, hoping it’ll make me feel a bit better and stop my throat and eyes from burning.

For a second, I thought I wouldn’t make it out of the water. I was drowning.

“Laxus, thank yo- Ethan!” I cry, scrambling over to his unconscious, pale form. What is he doing here? I crawl to his side, gasping when I reach out and find his skin cold to the touch. He’d been in such bad condition already, but now… I don’t know how he even made it out here in his condition.

Somehow, he still came.

He saved me.

“Ethan,” I whimper, cupping his cheeks. My body is shaking from the cold, my teeth chattering, and my hands trembling, but I try to warm him up.

He doesn’t respond. I let my eyes run down his body, taking in his shirtless torso, the hospital scrub pants, and his bare feet. My heart squeezes and tears blur my vision as I realize he didn’t bother to get properly dressed before he came her.

“Ethan, I nee-eed you to w-wake up.”

Still, there’s no response. A cool breeze whips through the cavern and I shiver, hunching my body over his to protect him from the air.

“E-Ethan?” I lean closer, laying a hand on his chest. I yank it away and whimper again. His chest isn’t moving. “Ethan? Please wake up,” I beg. I don’t want to do it, but I lift a finger to his nose.

“No, no, no. You c-can’t leave me li-ike this,” I cry when I feel no air coming from his nose.

Clambering up to my knees, I lock my hands together, blink away tears, and press my interlocked hands to his chest. I start compressions, pushing deep and hard.

“Laxus!” I push and push, then breathe into Ethan’s mouth. “Laxus! Help!”

There’s no response, and I cry out, fear snaking it’s way around my throat. It tries to pull my attention, to make me freeze, but I can’t stop. Ethan will die if I don’t keep doing CPR.

“LAXUS! RYAN!”

Someone, anyone, has to be out there. I can’t lose him, not now that I’ve decided to give him another chance. Not after I’ve found out we’re having a baby.

He doesn’t even know.

“You can’t die!” I cry, lean in, and breathe twice into Ethan’s mouth. I put everything I have into bringing him back, crying as I push my hands into his chest until something cracks. The sound makes me weep, but I force myself to keep going.

The cold sweeps over me, making my teeth chatter, body shake, and movements slow.

“Stop!” I scream at the wind. If I get much colder, I won’t be able to move. My fingers burn with a numbness that’s starting to set in, and my head swims with dizziness.

Then, Ethan’s body jolts, and he coughs, turning his head with a gasp. He heaves and drags air into his lungs before he finally opens his eyes and looks at me.

Hazy green eyes stare up at me, a faint smile pulling at pale lips.

“Stop what?” He rasps.

“Not you,” I sob, letting my forehead fall forward to his chest. The soft, slow rhythm of his heart thumps against my forehead as his hand slides around the back of my neck and squeezes weakly.

“Good,” he rasps. “I won’t stop… Ever… You’re mine.”

“Ethan, I—”

When I lift my head, his eyes are closed again, and fear screams through me. Jumping back up, I press my fingers to Ethan’s pulse and sigh when I find it. It’s weak like his breathing but it’s there.

I glance around the cave, wrapping my arms around myself and scooting close to Ethan’s side to fight off the cold. Neither of us needs to be out here much longer, but I don’t know what’s going on outside either. I place a hand on Ethan’s chest to feel the rise and fall of his weak breaths because I’m afraid Ethan might stop breathing.

As I sit here, I search for something to keep us warm, but there’s nothing except rock and dirt, and what looks like a tunnel or a hole in the far wall. I keep my focus split between the waterfall entrance and Ethan’s breathing, until two heads pop up from the water.

“Fiona!” Ryan pushes himself up out of the pool and rushes to my side. Laxus isn’t far behind him, but he moves slower but comes over to us and kneels. He’s bleeding from several places, making me cringe, but I don’t have time to speak because something tumbles out of the hole in the wall on the other side of the room.

I scream when an unfamiliar man stands up.

“He’s with us,” Ryan says, grabbing me by the shoulders. I look at him and at the new man who is holding several towels.

When he reaches us, he passes a large towel to Ryan who wraps it around me. Ryan also leans over Ethan, feeling for a pulse.

“Sorry we were so long,” he mutters then sighs and sits back.

“Ethan came out of nowhere and pulled me out of the water,” I tell them, sniffling and shaking. “He s-stopped breathing, and I gave him CPR.”

All three men’s heads whip my direction, and I nod in confirmation. My entire body feels heavy suddenly, and I sway, leaning into Ryan when he jumps to my side.

“It’s okay. Let’s get both of you back to the hospital and checked out by the healers.”

Nodding, I turn my head to look at Ethan, but the unfamiliar man already has him slung over his shoulders.

“Be careful with him,” I slur, blinking against the exhaustion. “He’s mine.”